The International Kink Health Study
Adventurous people deserve exceptional care.


Join our mailing list and help write the future of erotic diversity.
What is the International
Kink Health Study (IKHS)?
Are you eligible?
The International Kink Health Study (IKHS) is a research project about the physical and mental health, childhood experience, sexuality and healthcare of those around the world with recurring fantasies and practices that involve kink/BDSM/leather and fetish.
Are you eligible to participate?
Are you of adult age where you live?
Do you have recurring, long-standing fantasies that focus
on kink, bondage, and fetish?
Do you endorse consent and use safewords in your kink activities?
Can you complete a survey written in English?
Can you access the internet to complete an online survey?
This is a project of the The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance (TASHRA)

How does the IKHS work?
1. Complete a very brief online eligibility questionnaire. We will contact you regarding your eligibility within 48 hours.
2. If eligible, you will receive a link where you'll read about your study rights and protections.
3. After that, we'll send you the link for the first survey.
5. Then you will receive links to as many as six more surveys to complete, which you can do as quickly or at your leisure over the next month.
At this point you will have completed the first International Kink Health Study.
4. Upon completion, we'll send you the link to the second survey.
With your consent, we will be in contact with you periodically over the years to invite you to participate in more research.
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Understand the health benefits and risks of your kink interests and involvement.
Join us and improve kink health and wellbeing around the world!
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Better understand how the stress of being a stigmatized and often misunderstood sexual minority impacts your mental and physical health.
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Improve your health care by training therapists and medical care professionals in how to provide more informed and compassionate care to you.
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Support other kink health research that supports a better life for you.
Your participation will help us to...


The Kink Health Project
2013
In town halls and interviews, San Francisco bay people who are involved in kink and BDSM activities told us about their health and experiences with doctors and therapists.
Kink Health Survey
2016
Over 1,000 kink-involved participants answered over 200 questions about their health history, their emotional wellbeing, and kink lives. Overwhelmingly, they aren't that different from everybody else, but it did bring up questions.
International
Kink Health Study
2021
Three years in development and an expansion of our 2016 findings. Become one of an international group of kink-involved, interested, and unsure participants who will contribute to new understandings of erotic diversity.
